It is with great pleasure that we announce this year's winners of the XFN's 4th Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest! Is not every day that you get to say that you bought a pumpkin at your local grocer or pumpkin patch, carved it to your heart's desire and then... Gillian Anderson approved of your handy work!
That's right. The awesome lady herself picked not one but four winners for this year's contest! This is the greatest way to celebrate not only Halloween but also XFN's 6th Anniversary.
So... Drum roll please...
WINNERS:
(Click on the links for pictures)
First Place (Tie)
*Prizes: One issue of the original Topps Comic books, One electronic copy of an X-Files Script and an electronic certificate from XFN.
Creativity Special (Tie)
*Prizes: One issue of the original Topps Comic books and an electronic certificate from XFN.
Winners will receive their confirmation emails shortly with further details! If you want to check out all the entries, go here.
Thanks so much to Ms. Gillian Anderson and Mari at GAWS for gracing us with this treat and all your help. And thank you to every single one of you that participated!
See you on our next giveaway!
Amazon Studios is moving forward with The After. Like other Amazon Studios projects, the success of this show depends on viewers so make sure you tune in to watch. The After will be made available on Amazon Instant Video in early 2014
Amazon released a few more details about Chris Carter's new project, saying: "The After follows eight strangers who are thrown together by mysterious forces and must help each other survive in a violent world that defies explanation." The series is set to star: Sharon Lawrence, Jamie Kennedy, Aldis Hodge, Andrew Howard, Arielle Kebbel, Jaina Lee Ortiz, Adrian Pasdar and Louise Monot.
In a statement, Chris Carter said, "This is a show that explores human frailty, possibility, terror, and the triumph of the human spirit."
Agent Scully once said that "what can be imagined can be achieved, that [we] must dare to dream, but that there's no substitute for perseverance and hard work and teamwork, because no one gets there alone"; that is especially true of the X-Files charity event in Manchester that took place on October 13th, 2013.
The product of a few disgruntled British fans venting on Twitter about the lack of 20th anniversary events in the UK, the event was a resounding success and raised an impressive amount for Gillian Anderson's charity SA-YES.
I decided several months ago that it was one thing to complain about the 20th anniversary events schedule and another to actually stand up and do something about it. I approached SA-YES about the possibility of a fundraiser and Manchester's FAB Cafe about hosting a charity screening night; they graciously donated their venue to us for the evening. Countless hours sat sending emails resulted in some fantastic prizes for our raffle. Huge thanks go to La La Land Records, Erica Fraga who not only donated signed copies of her book LAX-Files but also sent over a number of uncut trading card sheets signed by dozens of show alumni, and Under The Floorboards. The limited edition posters donated by Under the Floorboards benefit the US neurofibromatosis charity, another cause close to Gillian's heart, so please consider heading over to their website and purchasing one if you haven't already. Without the prizes no one would have bought raffle tickets or quiz sheets so everyone's generosity contributed hugely to our grand total.
During the night we watched several episodes of The X-Files on our big screen, kicking off the night with the "Pilot". "Bad Blood" brought the house down before our quiz uncovered who the true Philes were. Congratulations to team Tray of Death on their complete annihilation of the competition, I'm still shocked that you managed to answer some of those! Thanks also go to Keva Andersen in helping to compile the questions. Gillian sent over several signed items from 8x10 photos to old magazines and comics. After the quiz my co-host Julie Baron who came along to represent SA-YES auctioned Gillian's items off, more thanks to our guests for digging deep, bidding high and going out in the cold and rain to find a cash point!
After our third and final episode - "Jose Chung's From Outer Space" - we were able to relax. Our special anniversary cake was shared with those guests who had stayed the night but only after a rousing rendition of "Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog" which I'm sure will be haunting us for many years to come. We also announced the total raised during the evening, an impressive £300, which will go a long way to helping disadvantaged youth in South Africa.
A great time was had in Manchester and as Julie and I left the venue at 1am the words "next time" and "next year" had already been uttered. It has been a wonderful experience working with SA-YES to run this event and I hope we are able to move forward and hopefully go bigger and better in the future. UK Philes - watch this space.