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A Conversation With, Interview, Movies and TV May 25, 2012 February 27, 2014
A Conversation With Actress Marie Bollinger
Marie Bollinger
It's not often you come across someone as cool as Marie Bollinger, an actress making her mark on the Hollywood scene in commercials and movies like "Pelt" and the soon to be released suspense/thriller: "HUFF".
Marie is an adventurous powerhouse and a force to be reckoned with. One look at her video reel shows that she can play a multitude of roles.
From scream queen to dramatic actress to comedy she's the total package. Did I also mention she's cool?
My first encounter with Marie was from her role as the voyeuristic Jessica in "Pelt", a Richard Swindell film that pays homage to the classic camper/serial killer movies of the 1980's. Marie was fantastic as the promiscuous camper who winds up getting captured, caged and, well you'll just have to watch the movie to find out.
Marie's latest role is that of Brixi in the Paul Morrell directed film "HUFF", a twisted take on the classic story of "The Three Little Pigs" which also stars former "Bachelor" Charlie O'Connell, scream queen Elina Madison, Elly Stefanko and Jenna Stone.
"HUFF" was recently screened to an enthusiastic crowd at the Texas Frightmare Weekend and received rave reviews from hardcore horror fans. With an official release scheduled for September, Marie's star is certain to rise to new heights.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Marie and discussing her roles in both "HUFF" and "Pelt". In addition to being a phenomenal actress, I also discovered that Marie has amazing athletic prowess, an interesting musical hobby and an awesome sense of adventure.
Yeah, she's cool.
goJimmygo (gJg): Marie! It's so great to speak with you!
Marie Bollinger (MB): Yeah! Same here!
gJg: Was the "HUFF" screening at Texas Frightmare Weekend your first experience at a horror convention?
MB: Yes it was. It was the first time I've been to any convention actually. It was something I've never experienced before and it was amazing! I couldn't believe how many horror fans were there. They're so loyal. Texas Frightmare was really a great place to premiere the film.
I remember at one point meeting a guy who told me that it was his sixth time coming. He said he keeps coming back to them because he likes meeting the film makers and hanging with friends watching films. Everyone there just shares their love of the genre together. It's pretty cool.
gJg: What was the screening like for "HUFF"?
MB: It was awesome! There was such a great turn out and most of the cast was there too which made it even better. I actually sat next to Elly and Jenna and we watched the completed film together for the very first time.
gJg: When is "HUFF" going to be released for the rest of us?
MB: We're being told sometime in September. That's what we're shooting for.
gJg: How did you the role of Brixi come about for you?
MB: I actually landed the role in part from a movie I had done previously called "Pelt".
A mutual friend had introduced me to Paul Morrell (the director of "HUFF"). Paul had seen "Pelt" and liked my performance. He found me through Facebook and called me in to audition for the role of Brixi.
gJg: How did it go?:
MB: I remember the first audition went really well. But after the callback I remember walking out thinking I had just blown it. I went home down on myself. And then on 11-11-11, of all dates, Paul called me up and offered me the part. <laughs>
gJg: What's the premise of "HUFF"?
MB: It's actually a really twisted take on the story of "The Three Little Pigs". There's an abusive step father, Huff (Charlie O'Connell) and a selfish mother, Lorelei (Elina Madison) who is blind to what is going on between her daughters and Huff.
My character, Brixi knows that she has to get out of the situation and ends up taking on the role of martyr in order to protect her sisters Shay (Elly Stefanko) and Styx (Jenna Stone).
Meanwhile, Lorelei takes Huff's drug money and gives it to us to start new lives. That's when Huff comes after us and the real horror element of the film begins. Up until that point the movie is more of a thriller.
So we run off and without giving too much away, let's just say we make some decisions that got the crowd going at Texas Frightmare. <laughs>
gJg: What was it like working with Elina Madison?
MB: Elina is awesome! I've known her from seeing her at some of the commercial auditions I've been to. It wasn't until later that I discovered she had this extensive resume of horror which was very cool.
I remember her coming to the table read and just laying all of her cards on the table right away. She just told everyone that she was going to do her own thing and for us to not be offended if she went off by herself. She was that focused on the story. I respect that. She was very professional.
gJg: I have to ask you this important question: Did you know that Charlie O'Connell (Huff) was "The Bachelor"?
MB: I honestly didn't. I had never watched "The Bachelor" before and had to look it up. I went in blindly so I really didn't really know anyone. <laughs>
gJg: Any interesting stories you remember while filming the movie?
MB: Well, I actually lived on the set pretty much. We were offered places to stay while we were filming but I didn't want to drive so I just decided to stay on location. Our casting director, Meg Hairell, didn't feel comfortable with me staying there by myself so she stayed there too.
I remember having to wake up every morning before anyone, even if I wasn't due on the set, because the makeup room also doubled as my bedroom.
If I wasn't shooting I was often napping. Meg has a whole collection of photos showcasing my skills of being able to nap anywhere but mostly curled up in a corner of the room. <laughs>
It was a creepy place because it was next to a burial ground and people had said they saw ghosts walking around on the property. I was really hoping for something scary to happen but nothing did.
gJg: Having now seen the movie, what do you like most about it?
MB: I think the fact that there was a subtle comedic element to it. Some of my favorite horror movies all have a little bit of comedy in it. It's not always obvious but it's there. Charlie really brought some awesome comedic elements to it. I was surprised at how well the sprinkle of comedy worked. It's all so subtle, yet also real.
gJg: What was your experience like filming "Pelt"?
MB: "Pelt" was a really fun shoot. I remember we all stayed in this great cabin-like hotel and really bonded together. It was great fun.
Here's an interesting story:
One of my favorite movies from a few years ago was a film called "The Signal". I remember that there was this guy in the movie who I thought was absolutely phenomenal but I didn't know who he was.
Justin Welborn (who plays Jon in "Pelt") and I became good friends during filming. After we had completed shooting the two of us were hanging out together and he asked me to check out this movie he had made: "The Signal".
I was like: "No way, that's YOU??" I had just gotten done working with him and had no idea that he was in one of my favorite movies, which says a lot about his ability to transform as an actor. He's a chameleon of sorts. <laughs>
gJg: I found "Pelt" to be just like some of the other horror movies I loved watching during the 80's. The "Friday the 13th" types with the over the top kills, the promiscuous ladies, the funny one-liners at the "wrong" time….
MB: Exactly! It's supposed to be fun!
I remember being at the table read and Richard Swindell (director and a really cool dude) told us: "I'm not reinventing the wheel here. Let's just have fun. It will be a great experience." And he was right, it was.
gJg: I remember reading where Richard said he knew a joke was going to work in "Pelt" if it made you laugh during the table reading.
MB: Yeah, I have a sense of humor of a 12 year-old boy and so does Richard. It was a blast. <laughs>
gJg: When did you decide you wanted to become an actor?
MB: I think it was when I was in elementary school. I remember being involved in a poetry contest and at the time just thinking to myself that acting was something I really wanted to do.
I had always been involved in plays and drama during school but I was also an athlete. I won State my senior year in the high-jump and went to college on a scholarship. Being an athlete was a big part of my life.
I graduated college with a BFA in Electronic Media but was never brave enough to take that first step and do what I really wanted to do. Then one day my father, who always knew I had the desire to act, told me to just go for it. So I did. I moved to LA and immediately started booking commercials.
gJg: I was watching your video reels and saw your sky diving adventure. What was that experience like?
MB: It was such a great experience. For one second, and quite possibly the longest second of my life, I literally thought I was going to die. But once I realized that I was actually just free-falling, it was awesome! I love stuff like that: heights, being scared, adventure.
gJg: What do you like to do in your spare time?
MB: One of the things I like to do is collect vinyl record albums. I have a lot of classics like David Bowie, Brian Eno, Phil Collins, Patti Smith, Billy Joel. A lot of punk rock from the 70's. Some garage rock from the 50's and 60's. Just a wide range of music.
I'm actually going through a big Leonard Cohen/Patti Smith phase right now. I think if I could have been born in another time it would have been the 60's.
gJg: What's projects do you have coming up?
MB: I have a couple of short films in the works along with a feature film called "Listening". It's a story of two broke college grad students who invent mind-reading technology. If it gets into the wrong hands, well then it may just be the end of free will. I play a brainy vixen in this one.
It's a fantastic screenplay and I'm very excited about it!
Article first published as A Conversation With Actress Marie Bollinger on Technorati.
Filed under: Entertainment, horror, Marie Bollinger, Movies, Television
Asia – 30 Years Of Rock
My Memorial Day


Risa is an M-class planet and a luxury vacation destination in the Risa System. It is the homeworld of the Risians. There are two areas on Risa which may be visited by the player.
For all missions of the Lohlunat Festival at the Summer Resort, see below.
"Stormbound": In order to hide the Tox Uthat, a device capable of halting all fusion in stars, from the Vorgons and the Tholians, time traveling scientist Kal Dano and the player travel back to the early 22nd Century and bury it in a cave on rainy Risa.
The Summer Resort is home to the Lohlunat Festival, an annual summer event during which Risians celebrate their culture's welcoming diversity. Captains of all factions can attend the Festival. Although most activities here are only available during the Lohlunat Festival, the Summer Resort can be visited any time.
Aside from the Lohlunat Festival, a small island on Risa can be visited offering a lush and tropical beach resort, the only functions of which are a social area and as starting point of user-generated content. However, you can use your powerboards on the small island, even though you cannot use your floaters here.
Risa at Memory Alpha, the Star Trek Wiki.
Risa at Memory Beta, the non-canon Star Trek Wiki.
Last modified: 13 July 2018 at 00:05.


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enerG-Back Issues
Rolling Hills adds whopping amount of wind power
The completion of the Rolling Hills wind project in Iowa marks a significant milestone for Mortenson Construction, with Rolling Hills being its 100th wind power project. Rolling Hills also added a whopping 443.9 MW of wind power to MidAmerican Energy's renewable portfolio.
By Diane Mettler
The Rolling Hills wind project in Iowa was significant for a number of reasons.
In addition to it being Mortenson Construction's 100th wind project, Rolling Hills is also the largest single-phase wind project the company has constructed—ever.
In 1995, Mortenson installed its first wind project in Adair, Iowa. Little did the company know then that several years later, it would install a project more than twice that size, just down the road.
Tim Maag, vice president and general manager of Mortenson's U.S. wind business, says the massive 193 turbine, 443.9-megawatt Rolling Hills wind project has been a success on many levels. Not only is it a great accomplishment for the company, but it also created jobs and generated revenue for the local community.
Mortenson was selected by major utility MidAmerican Energy Company through a competitive tender process to construct the wind project and to install access roads, underground electrical collection systems, and internal tower wiring. The company immediately got busy completing engineering work and procuring materials.
By the end of April 2011, Mortenson was setting up on the site and installing work trailers and the construction lay-down area. By mid-May, construction began in earnest. In three months, the wind farm was beginning to produce energy, and by the end of 2011, Rolling Hills was fully commissioned and on-line.
To get a wind farm of this size completed and operating in less than a year speaks to the strong relationship between MidAmerican Energy and Mortenson, as well as Mortenson's relationships with manufacturers and contractors.
"We've built 17 projects in Iowa," says Maag. "And Rolling Hills was the sixth project we've built for Mid-American Energy, so there was really no learning curve in terms of working with MidAmerican."
True to its name, the terrain on the Rolling Hills project is very hilly, so it required a lot of breaking down cranes to get from one site to the next. All of the foundations had to be buoyant to withstand a very wet environment.
The choice of Siemens turbines, Maag says, was in part due to the fact that certain components were manufactured in Iowa. The enormous blades—half the length of a football field and 12 tons each—were manufactured at Siemens' blade manufacturing plant in Fort Madison, Iowa.
A total of 193 Siemens 2.3 MW wind turbines were used on the Rolling Hills project. Coincidentally, Siemens had supplied 76 of its 2.3 MW wind turbines for the Adair wind project, down the road.
So Mortenson was more than familiar with Siemens turbines. In fact, including Rolling Hills, they have installed approximately 340 Siemens turbines to date with another 138 to be erected by spring for projects currently under construction.
"Again, we have a great working relationship with Siemens," says Maag. "Overall, it was an efficient process. The landowners also helped move the project along. We had several meetings to keep them informed of the construction progress, where our traffic would be routed, and how it would be coordinated with their farming activities," says Maag.
"The individuals we dealt with were absolutely great—very interested in the project and easy to work with."
There are always challenges with wind power projects, especially with a project of this magnitude. One of the biggest obstacles was obvious from the name—Rolling Hills.
"The terrain was very hilly, so it required a lot of breaking down cranes to get from one site to the next," says Maag. "The wind was an issue, which we battled pretty much all summer long.
"Also, all of the foundations were buoyant, meaning they were built to withstand a very wet environment. The ground can be completely saturated, and the foundations are large enough to handle it," explains Maag.
Mortenson Construction is very familiar with Siemens turbines. Including Rolling Hills, they have installed approximately 340 Siemens turbines, with another 138 to be erected for projects currently under construction.
Each foundation for the 80-meter tall turbines required 500 to 600 cubic yards of concrete. When erection began in July, Mortenson averaged two turbines per day, using Manitowoc cranes and several Grove rough-terrain cranes.
"We were frequently shut down by the wind, so when the winds were down, we worked very long days, sometimes erecting three or four wind turbines in a day and other days as little as one or two because we had to move the crane," says Maag.
At the peak of construction, there were more than 300 employees on site.
"We had around 150 Mortenson employees, and the rest were subcontracted employees. Most of the workers were union and locals living within a 90-mile radius of the project site."
The crew had its work cut out for them. In addition to erecting the 193 turbines, Mortenson constructed 37 miles of access roads and 139 miles of underground electrical collection cable at the Rolling Hills wind project.
"While we performed nearly 50 percent of the labor with our own craftworkers, subcontractors, such as Rachael Contracting out of Minneapolis, also provided craftworkers to help build access roads," says Maag. "We also hired JF Edwards Construction as the electrical collection subcontractor and Century Engineering to do the tower wiring."
The Rolling Hills wind project was designed and built for MidAmerican Energy. MidAmerican Energy isn't just a big player in the energy industry; it's Iowa's largest energy company, providing electrical service to 729,000 customers and natural gas service to 709,000 customers in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
MidAmerican Energy ranks as the No. 1 rate-regulated utility in the U.S. in terms of ownership of wind-powered capacity. In 2011, the 443.9-megawatt Rolling Hills project, located in Adair, Adams, and Cass counties, was one of three MidAmerican Energy wind projects constructed in Iowa. An additional 13 wind turbines were constructed in Pocahontas and Calhoun counties, and 52 wind turbines were constructed in Marshall County—all by Mortenson. Once completed, the 258-wind-turbine expansion project added 593.4 megawatts of renewable energy to MidAmerican Energy's generation portfolio, enough capacity to power approximately 190,000 average U.S. homes.
All this activity had a positive impact on small communities, such as Massena, Iowa. Massena is located in the heart of the Rolling Hills wind project.
The choice of Siemens turbines on the Rolling Hills project was in part due to the fact that certain components were manufactured in Iowa. The enormous blades—half the length of a football field and 12 tons each—were manufactured at Siemens' blade manufacturing plant in Fort Madison, Iowa.
Not only did construction crews fill the local restaurants, Mortenson also used local suppliers to purchase a variety of supplies.
"We also used a lot of the same equipment the local farmers do, and we used local mechanics to fix tires and help keep our equipment running," Maag explains. "It was a huge boost to the local economy, not to mention the fact that the turbines are going to be there for many years to come."
It's not all about economic benefit though. Mortenson gave back to the community in other ways.
"One of the things we do is partner with the local fire department in the area. Together, we do tower rescue training to make sure they are prepared for an emergency. We also presented our Catch the Wind program to local schools, which is designed to help educate children about renewable energy," explains Maag.
Rolling Hills significantly added to Iowa's already robust wind energy portfolio. As of the end of 2011, Iowa had 4,322 MW of wind power, ranking it #2 in the U.S., after only Texas.
With the completion of the project and several new projects underway, Maag is looking ahead to the future of the wind industry and is encouraged by the advances he is seeing in technology.
"It's amazing that a 2-megawatt turbine can provide power for 400 to 600 homes. Now there are turbines as large as 3 megawatts and growing. It's truly impressive how much energy a single turbine can produce now because of the technology, even with low wind environments. Undoubtedly, wind power will continue to be a significant part of the U.S. energy market in the years ahead."
Fifteen years from now, Maag believes wind turbines will be generating an enormous amount of power. He can easily see a single turbine in the future replacing two or three of the turbines installed today.
In fact, Mortenson already is replacing turbines installed years ago.
"When we work on the west coast, we are doing some repowering of projects where we'll take down existing turbines and replace them with newer, more powerful turbines. We're starting to do some of that for projects that are 15 to 20-plus years old in California," says Maag.
With a project the size of Rolling Hills under their belt and with more than 100 wind projects now completed, it's hard not to feel some pride in a well-run company.
Mortenson, a family owned business, is the 19th largest construction company in the U.S., with revenues of approximately $2.5 billion. According to Engineering News Record (ENR), Mortenson is ranked as the second largest wind contractor in the U.S.
"ENR recognizes Mortenson as the only power contractor that dedicates 100 percent of its power industry to the renewables business," says Maag. "When you see others that are ranked in the power industry, they might do fossil, they might do nuclear, they might do various types of energy. We focus solely on renewables—primarily wind and solar, with some geothermal and hydroelectric.
"We welcome the opportunity for more projects in the future," says Maag.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Each year, almost everyone has some sort of New Year's resolution to get outside more or get healthier. This year, South Carolina State Parks can help jump start that effort with a First Day Hike.
In conjunction with America's State Parks and state park systems across the country, SC State Parks have organized events all over the state on Jan. 1, 2017, to get everyone outside. You can start the day with a sunrise hike to photograph the Adventure at Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site or brave the cold and take the plunge at Paris Mountain State Park's Paris Plunge.
The parks are hosting 40 different events at 35 parks across the state. Events range in activity and skill level, with some parks hosting multiple events. If you're a walker, many parks are hosting walks, with some as short as a half-mile. Others are more challenging, like the Caesars Head 5-mile hike up the mountain. More of a runner? Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site and Devils Fork State Park are hosting 5K events. Aiken, Devils Fork, Paris Mountain and Sadlers Creek State Parks will be holding cold water "plunge" events for those looking to start 2017 refreshed. And Lee and Kings Mountain State Parks are hosting organized trail rides for horse owners.
And if you'd rather strike out on your own, each of South Carolina's 47 parks will be open New Year's Day.
In addition to all of the First Day Hike activities, SC State Parks also are inviting active and retired military personnel to compete in First Day Hikes to see which branch of the Armed Forces can hike the most miles in a single day. Military personnel can opt to join scheduled hikes or do their own, as long as they check in with rangers first. So if you're a member of the Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force, come out and help rack up miles for bragging rights. Just stop stop by the park office to pick up an Ultimate Outsider guide and tell the park ranger on duty which branch of service you represent. Report back the number of miles after you finish.
So get out, enjoy and start 2017 on the right foot.
Get more information on each of the events here.